All language subtitles for Americas.Backyard.Gold.S01E02.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to]

Yeah.

This is country engineering
right there at its best.

When you can take a lawn mower

and use the back wheels,
the clutch, and the shifter,

now that's pretty good
engineering right there.

Hold on now.

The hell is that?

- It's gold there, boys.
- Is that gold?

- Wow. Nice.
- Is that gold sitting in that rock?

Holy cow. I've never seen a
piece of gold like that before.

Right on, man.

That's my first Georgia gold.

Gold is everywhere.

My god.

There's an estimated $3 trillion

still undiscovered in america.

- Whoo.
- And I wanna help you...

- Choose your weapon.
- Find it.

- We got gold.
- California gold, baby.

All you need is basic equipment...

You can get started with $15.

And the skill to decode the land.

That's a spot right there.

Yee-haw.

I'm Dave turin.

For the past 14 years,

I've mined millions of dollars of gold.

Yeah.

And now, I wanna show
you where and how

I've seen it all now. Vacuum cleaner.

Everyday people are catching it.

That's insane.

So that you could be
the next one to hit it big...

Boom, baby.

Right here in america's backyard.

Gold is the foundation of america.

And the opportunity to find it

is just as real now
as it was in the 1800s.

You know, most people don't
realize that there's gold out there.

Anybody that's sitting on their couch
at home watching TV or something,

they can get up and go find gold.

There's a new gold rush
happening around the country.

And everyday people
like you are finding enough

to help pay the bills and
take those big vacations.

I'm excited. I can go out here and,

you know, experience gold rush 2.0.

Gold is yours for the taking.

You just need to know where to look.

And would you be shocked to know

you can even find gold
here in the deep south?

Right now, I'm in lumpkin
county in the state of Georgia,

right in the town of dahlonega.

And I've already found gold.

Just 90 minutes north of Atlanta,

is the town of dahlonega.

Home of america's forgotten gold rush.

Between the rugged uplands
of northeastern Alabama

and the mountainous
forest of northwest Georgia,

is an expansive
100-mile-long gold-rich area

known as the dahlonega gold belt.

Since 1829, nearly $1 billion of gold

has come out of this region
that few outsiders know about.

But don't worry,

there's an estimated $2
billion worth yet to be found.

I'm kind of excited. I'm in the mountains.

I'm in a brand new area.

Dahlonega was one of the
first gold rushes in america.

Starting in the north, the chestatee river

flows for 32 miles right through the belt.

And I've been told even the most
greenhorn of miners are scoring here.

And I wanna show you

where and how to get some
southern gold of your own.

These mountains are
actually quite large for Georgia.

I did not expect to
have mountains like this,

and this rural forested area.

Hey, guys, what's going on?

- How we doing?
- -Hey, what's going on, Dave?

First up, I've got a tip on
rookie miners Aaron and Jeff,

who've secured access to
100-foot stretch of this gold-rich river.

Do you wanna see some of the gold

that I've got here in Georgia in the past?

- Let's see what we've got.
- -All right.

The gold in Georgia is super tiny.

- Okay.
- I mean, there is a high concentration

- of very small gold.
- Yeah.

And so the skills, practicing
to pan that stuff out,

- um, is a challenge.
- Yeah.

But it's a challenge that
seems to be paying off.

My goodness.

- How much you got, Jeff?
- I've got 13 grams of gold here.

- My goodness. That is nice.
- Whoo.

That's some beautiful gold.

At 23 carats, the gold here is
some of the purest on the planet.

Which can mean up to $350 per
ounce more than other regions.

And mining in shallow running
sections of rivers like this one,

it's one of the easiest
ways for you to get it.

This is actually my landlord's spot.

I live a couple of houses down the road.

Some of the best gold's
actually down here.

But most of the chestatee river
is considered private property.

I mean, it's kind of good
we're on private property

because the rules are a lot more lax.

- Yeah.
- So, here we can use a sluice box.

But if you're on public land, none of that.

Yeah.

- None of that.
- It's just pans and shovels only.

You've gotta check the laws and
get permission to go into the river.

The best way to do it, though,
is if you find a landowner

who doesn't mind you
prospecting in his land,

go for it.

So tell me what's going
on here, you guys?

I see you got a bunch of rocks
over here. Those are your tailings?

- Yessir.
- Those are our tailings.

We've been washing some rocks today.

You see how close the bedrock is?

Heavy gold collects
with gravels and sand

on the impenetrable bedrock layer.

Making it a great place to hunt.

- You guys been digging right in here?
- -We'd been digging

- right about here.
- -We're just looking for low spots.

Yeah, we flipped them boulders,

get down to that really good sticky Clay.

Have you gone, like,
on the back side of this?

I haven't tried that yet, no.

- No.
- -I think it gets kind of deep.

You see the way this
is all kind of rolling over?

Yeah.

Like, if you get a lot of water,

you know, some of it
is gonna go that way,

but that gold's gonna
wanna find a spot to fall out.

Here. They call me digger Dave.

The way the textbook says,

check on the back side of riffle.

But, you know, from practical experience,

I look on both sides
of something like this.

Dahlonega gold forms in
quartz veins deep in hard rock.

As the rock erodes,

the gold is carried
into rivers and streams.

In the river current, rocks
create a natural vortex.

Slowing the flow down
and trapping heavy gold

on the downstream side of the rock.

But in my experience,

the water also slows
down on the upstream side.

Giving the gold another chance to fall.

So, when you're mining
rocky spots on a river,

- dig all around.
- The gold could be everywhere.

Let's dig some rock.

- Let's do it.
- All right.

Hopefully, we dig up some nuggets.

- That's my hope.
- That would be nice.

All right, let's see what this
primo material Dave got us has got.

Yeah, even down here, it's doing well.

You're retaining some of the heavies.

It's looking good.

Aaron and Jeff are using
a simple $300 river sluice.

The gold mixed with gravels and sand

is fed through the top of the sluice.

Carried by the flow of the river water,

the heavy gold naturally
drops to the bottom,

where it's caught with other
heavy particles in the grooved mats.

And the lighter, worthless
material washes back into the river.

This sluice method has barely
changed in almost 200 years.

But I think there's always
room for a little improvement.

Why don't you guys put in a little pump?

You get a little more consistent water,

- you can set your sluice box.
- Always wanted to.

- What you got set up, it's great...
- Right.

- But you lose a little bit of control.
- -Yeah.

But if you've got a pump,

you can change your pitch.

And you know exactly
how much water's coming in.

With this, you're kind
of hit and miss, right?

Yeah.

Like right now, you
could be flushing fine gold.

All right. Here we go, boys.

Hopefully, there's some gold in here?

There it is, Dave. What do you think?

Nice. That's good-looking
gold right there.

- Yessir, yes sir.
- Good job, guys.

Thanks a lot.

That's 30 bucks from just
a couple buckets of dirt.

Add a pump, and you could make
enough to cover rent each month.

- Yessir. Yessir. Appreciate you coming.
- It's been a great day.

- Yeah.
- Well, thank you.

I mean, he's a great teacher.

One of the things
that he really taught me

was using the outside and
inside of the natural riffles.

I think it's really gonna be
good to be able to use that

on a day-to-day basis.

- This is my gym.
- It's great exercise.

The river is peaceful.

I might only make six dollars
to $10 of gold each time,

but that's cheaper than most
people's gym membership.

I actually earn money.

I really enjoy seeing young
people out here doing it.

Because that's the next
generation of miners.

I believe they've got enough energy,

enough knowledge, enough wisdom

that they can take it to the next level.

If they want to.

I think what they really
ought to do is get a little pump,

set it up, so they can be more consistent.

I think they'll find more gold.

Well, they got themselves
an amazing spot here

because, you know,
he knows the landowner.

The landowner's like,
"yeah, come on down."

So, if you can find a piece of private land

and the landowner say, "go,"

it's the best way to go here in Georgia.

Coming up... Joey, you
ready to get some gold?

Let's go, dad!

I'm gonna show you

how going deeper can
get big gold quicker.

Find some of that dahlonega gold.

Whoo!

This is kind of fun.

Red dirt roads, and
somebody else mined it.

That's what we're looking for.

I'm in the mountains.

There's three different mines

that were actively mining here.

And we're going down
into the creek right next to it.

So that's a great sign.

I'm in the dahlonega gold belt,

showing you some of the
many places in the south

you can find your own pot of gold.

And the signs are
everywhere, so pay attention.

I've seen a lot of red dirt,
which is mineralization.

There's white quartz
sticking out right there.

I'm seeing everything you wanna see.

I'm headed to a stretch of the
gold-rich etowah river in auraria,

just seven miles south of dahlonega,

the center of the regional gold rush.

To show you that with a little investment,

you can maximize your gold.

We're going down into the creek,

and I'm meeting a guy named Greg.

He dredges. Kind of excited to see him.

- Hey, guys, what's going on?
- All right.

It's a nice little dredge.

Dredging on the weekends,

Greg has found a great way
to spend time with his son,

and boost his salary with gold.

The cool part is, I get
to dredge with Joey.

I love it, man.

Joey, you ready to get some gold?

Let's go, dad!

So, drag it over the shoal,

and then we're gonna
set up at the bottom.

We'll dredge in the center.

- Probably...
- We're gonna dredge in the center below.

Right. So we're gonna work our way up,

so that way we can
just toss rocks behind us.

We're in the dahlonega belt,

and this river's been washing gold

out of these mountains
now for millions of years.

It's an amazing spot on this river.

You've got calm water,

and then you've really
got a little bit of a waterfall.

It's a perfect storm for gold settling out.

Gold is carried in a current,

but when the river slows down,

the gold drops on to the riverbed.

This is a big dredge. I've
never dredged with a six-inch.

Six inch in diameter, it
moves a lot of material.

This is the real deal right here.

Greg's setup cost $7,000,

but you can get a smaller
one starting at 2,000 bucks.

Go do some dredging.

Find some of that dahlonega gold.

Whoo!

We're gonna be moving a lot of
rocks and sucking everything up.

And the gold's gonna be down deep.

And the more we pull the rocks out,

the deeper we're going.

I like how hard-packed the material is.

Like, it's getting much
tougher to break up, yeah.

Yeah.

- You gotta really work those rocks out.
- -Yeah.

Which kind of means that
it's been there for a while.

Yeah.

Like most dredges,

Greg's creates a powerful suction
that vacuums gold and gravel

from the riverbed up to the sluice,

where the gold is captured in ridges.

But Greg has a secret
weapon to give him an edge.

With a customized high-pressure hose,

Greg can loosen ancient gold-rich dirt,

that is wedged in the
cracks and crevices,

right into the suction hose.

All right, I'm gonna shut it down.

Shut it down.

Now, let's see what we got.

How'd you get started
doing this to begin with?

When I was about 16, I used to buy dirt.

- Probably in a bag kind of thing? Yeah.
- And I... in a bag,

'cause they're concentrates.

And I would take 'em home
and pan 'em out in the creek.

When I turned 18,

I joined the army and I left home.

And all my belongings kind
of traveled with my parents

as they moved around over the years.

After the army, I got
married about 13 years ago.

And when I was going through
my divorce 10 years ago,

I needed to find something to do

that was just for me.

Everything I did was for him.

- I got a lot of respect for that, Greg.
- I appreciate that.

That's impressive 'cause it ain't easy.

- I've raised three kids...
- Yeah.

But I've raised them with a wife.

- Right.
- To raise a son all by yourself,

- that's hard work.
- I got a lot of respect

- for single moms out there, too, like...
- Yeah, I know.

I got a nice 23-gram
nugget couple months ago.

We were just on a cruise.

That trip was basically

supported by my gold mining habit.

- That's cool.
- Yeah.

It worked out really good.

This is your primary catch for your fines.

- Yup.
- And most of your fines

- are gonna get caught down here.
- -Okay.

Stuff's out.

This is my cleanup sluice.

This is what I run my
concentrates through.

Greg is doing something
I've never seen before.

Powering his sluice with
the motor on his dredge.

Talk about a cleanup on a dredge.

But a simple river sluice
would work just as well.

I'm starting to... That looks pretty good.

We've got some fine gold in there.

- We got big stuff. We got good material.
- Nice.

Nice.

You know, I find fine
gold all over north Georgia,

but to find that nice, big, chunky stuff,

you've gotta come to dahlonega.

How much gold do you think we got?

There's over two grams.
What do you think?

I mean, you're looking at two
to three grams an hour, maybe.

I wouldn't wait but a few
days to have an ounce.

Working like this every
weekend for a year

could haul in over $65,000.

Dahlonega gold.

- I love it, man.
- That's it.

Greg and Joey, what a pair.

To me, that was a perfect spot

to go gold mining, and Greg knew it.

There's still gold in Georgia.

Later, Greg wants to
show me a secret weapon

that's giving him even bigger gold.

But until then, we've got more
dahlonega gold to uncover.

Coming up... We don't
know what lies beneath.

I'm gonna show you that a gold mine...

Wow, that is impressive!

Could be right beneath your feet.

The geology is changing.

You can see some white rocks,

and it looks like quartz.

I'm in the heart of the Georgia section

of the dahlonega gold belt,

home to america's forgotten gold rush.

Beautiful part of the country.

Legend has it that in 1849

on the balcony of this courthouse,

in an attempt to stop
miners leaving for California,

the mayor shouted the famous line...

"There's gold in them thar hills."

And there's still gold
to be found everywhere,

if you know where to look.

There's a lady here that
wants to show me something.

It relates to mining.

So, we're gonna go into

a ice cream sweet shop
and see what we've got.

Good morning.

- Good morning.
- Hi, I'm Dave.

Hi, Dave. So nice to
meet you finally in person.

- What's your name?
- Margaret.

Hi, Margaret.

I'm Margaret, and this
is my husband, Jay.

- Hi, Jay.
- Hi, Dave. Nice to meet you.

I don't normally come into the
sweet shops looking for gold,

but... You gave me a call and you said

you have something
unusual you wanna show me?

- Yes.
- Indeed we do. It's a hand-dug shaft.

- Got it.
- It drops 30 something feet down.

- Dang. Yeah.
- Yes.

But we don't know what lies beneath.

Let's go see what you got.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Refrigerator and ice maker.

I'm gonna pull this out here.

All right.

- Which way we going? Straight ahead? Okay.
- It's coming straight out.

And we have a little door there.

Wow, that is impressive!

Whoo. My goodness.

Any chance we could grab that

waterproof camera and drop it down?

Right there you can
see some of the holes.

And those holes were probably there

for building some type of a platform,

so they could continue to dig

to keep going down.

They found gold here in 1828,

and chances are this shaft was probably

driven in there in 1830s or 1840s.

So we're gonna keep going down.

And now, the geology is changing.

You can see some white
rocks and it looks like quartz.

Those look a lot more
like river rocks to me.

They shafted down
to an ancient riverbed.

And where there's bigger
rocks, there's bigger gold.

In my opinion, that's the mine shaft.

Goes to show you folks,

if you live in an old gold rush
town, check your basement.

Gold could literally
be under your feet, too.

But my question is, why is
it underneath of a building?

Any idea?

Well, mining was
prohibited on the square.

It always was, and still is.

So probably they were
digging the shaft in private.

- In secret.
- Interesting.

Thanks for showing me.

Those old timers found a way to get
their hands on the gold, no matter what.

But over 150 years later, a family
is proving they left plenty behind.

Next, I'm off to the north Georgia forest

on the outskirts of lincolnton.

An area littered with historic gold mines.

So we're here to see
a father-son operation,

they're out here prospecting.

I've heard Tim and bail lie
have a unique piece of machinery

to double down on the
gold on this 5-acre claim.

- Hello. Hello.
- Hey, Dave.

- Good to see you.
- Dave. Nice to meet you.

- Dave. I'm Tim.
- You Tim?

What do you got going here, Tim?

Now, normally I see in a dredge,
like your sluice is on pontoons.

I kind of like this. This is
kind of like a hybrid, isn't it?

Correct. This is a, high
banker dredge combo...

- Yep.
- Where we can do both.

Tim and bail lie mine both the stream

and the ground around
it at the same time.

While Tim operates the dredge
that sucks up gold rich river gravels,

bail lie loads riverbank dirt
straight into an attached hopper.

I'm not big on doing all the
shoveling. That's a lot of work.

But my son, bail lie, he's
the one that likes to shovel.

The hopper is a pre wash system

that washes and separates
out the bigger rocks,

allowing the smaller dirt and the
gold to be caught in the sluice mats.

So, Tim, how much money
you got tied up in all this?

Well, I've got approximately
about $3,500 invested in it

with the, the unit itself and the engine.

But an entry level system will
set you back just 1500 bucks.

You can get started
with $15 and a gold pan.

You know you don't have
to spend 3000 to get going.

Now you can get out in
nature and get some good gold.

Are you getting any gold?

We hit what we call
a blue gray Clay layer.

Yeah.

That's just decomposed
bedrock that's turned into Clay.

That gold will never penetrate that.

So he's skimming all the rocks
off right down to that bedrock.

And that's where your gold will be sitting.

I'd say this is the
perfect two-person setup.

That's the first time I've seen
somebody double teaming

high banking and
dredging at the same time.

So they're maximizing their
sluice time. I really like it.

I definitely think there's a
lot of gold left in Georgia.

It shows that these mines
were active up until the '50s, '60s

and then they just walked away from it.

So you know that
there is gold still in here.

You just have to find it.

What are you looking for?

I'm kind of looking in the bank to see

if there's, like, a little gravel layer.

A lot of times people think
plaster is only in the streambeds,

but it's not. The plaster
could be up here as that,

you know, millions of years
ago, that river ran right there,

and then everything
falls down on top, buries it,

well, it's got river
gravels on those benches.

Do you ever test pan stuff?

I would suggest you just pan it.

Because if you consistently
pan the same size pan

and you run three or four
pans, you're not getting anything,

- let's move to another spot. Yeah.
- That makes sense.

Regular test panning will allow bail lie

to hone in on the richest gold spots.

Legwork that will no doubt help dad.

Three years ago, my wife
took me down to the hospital

and they come out and said, "hey,
Tim, you're having a... A heart attack."

So, quadruple bypass.

- How are you feeling?
- Feeling great?

- Back to 100%.
- Good for you.

My advice to you is

- be patient with this old codger.
- -Yes.

'Cause when I was your age, I
wasn't that patient with my dad.

And I regret it at times. I really
do. My dad passed away...

- Take the time...
- Appreciate it.

And appreciate what you
have when you have it.

- You're happy with that?
- I'm happy.

Well, if we don't find
anything, it's your fault.

- 'Cause you didn't clean it out.
- There you go.

To separate the gold
from the worthless sand

these guys have got
another neat piece of kit.

How much this little setup worth?

About $85, and that's it.

Runs off of a little pump...

You can buy this pump at
your local hardware store.

- Exactly. Exactly.
- Yeah.

Let's turn on the water
right there and get a little...

- Look at that. Kind of cute little sluice.
- Yeah.

The light particles flow down into
his bucket so he's not losing anything.

And the gold's staying in the little riffles.

And we can do this at
home, out on our back deck.

- Turn down the...
- Slow it down just a little bit.

I just don't wanna wash it out.

That looks a little bit better.

The right water flow is important.

Too fast and it washes gold off the end.

Too slow and there's not enough flow

to wash out all the worthless dirt.

That's the quickest cleanup
I think I've ever done.

- Wow, that was pretty slick.
- Exactly.

Dave's got the magic touch right there,

- you know, with the tapping.
- Well,

you don't know how
many times I've done this.

Well, that's pretty good, you guys.

I think they're in a good spot.

I really like the fact that, you know,

Tim is using this operation
with his son as rehabilitation.

It's pretty cool that he's out here
and he's enjoying himself again.

With this type of operation, you
could haul in $1,000 a weekend.

I gotta say, you guys
got a good thing going.

I like hanging out with,
you know, dads and sons

that get along because it's family.

Exactly.

- It's been a pleasure, all right.
- Thank you. Thank you.

Coming up.

I show you how scaling up...

Doesn't have to break the bank.

That loud noise. It's
like a money machine.

I'm in america's deep south
in the dahlonega gold belt.

A 100-mile little known
stretch of golden promised land.

Now I'm heading out of Georgia
towards lineville, Alabama...

Where I found a one-stop
shop for gold hunters

to hone their skills
and make some money.

Jeff? I'm Dave.

- Good to meet you.
- -You got some gold down there?

I hope so. We're looking for it.

Jeff landrum owns and
manages Alabama gold camp,

where over 600 members
have access to its 200-acre claim.

What do you do here? So
you're digging payout for...

For the people that are
up here high banking?

We're running for that
and our trommel operation.

You mind if I get down
in the hole and see

- what your pay looks like?
- Go ahead, man.

I would like to pan it right there.

You got that contact zone
where the gravels meet in that...

You got Clay bedrock.

That gold falls down in there, it's rotten.

It's exactly what I always look for.

Changes in the color
of the ground like this

can indicate high
mineralization and gold.

So always be on the lookout
when you prospect a new area.

How did you start all this?

I was doing a little prospecting

about 20 miles from here in goldville.

And, I lived next door to a church.

Preacher knew what I was into, and
somebody in his church was getting divorced

and they wanted to
know if they knew anybody

would be interested
in buying a gold mine.

That's how I started.

How much you charge
people for being here?

You can come in and spend the day.

Our pans, sluice, and that'll take $5.

- What?
- $5.

$5 is cheap.

I got a lot of people
that's been coming here,

before they leave, they'll hug you

and tell you they love
you, and that means a lot.

Here, members can sluice or dredge

and keep the gold that they find.

No equipment costs
and no need for permits.

It's as cheap as playing the lottery

with better odds of a good payout.

Well, Jeff, I got gold in the pan.

This is the first Alabama
gold I've ever seen.

- That's pretty good.
- -So let's go throw some dirt.

Back in an excavator. It
feels good. It's been a while.

Jeff's been digging this site for 20 years,

all to feed the beast.

Good looking pay right there.

A massive, self-assembled,
gold catching monster.

What do you call this now?

- We call it goldzilla.
- Goldzilla?

- Yeah.
- -Why'd you get that name?

I don't have a good answer for that.

- Come about.
- All right.

- Is this your feeder?
- Yes.

Put some material now, it'll get us there.

- So that's just all washing down?
- -It is.

But mostly we use this
hose and that fine nozzle

where people can be involved
in operation, that's what it's for.

It's for the people that prospect
here, and they get to run it

- and they get to keep the gold.
- Nice.

So they all get to split it?

Yes.

- Yeah.
- We all split it.

Where'd you buy this thing from?

I acquired several different
pieces of old mining equipment.

And just thought one day I just
started putting them together down here.

I got a piece here and a piece there.

"A piece here..."

There's a Johnny cash song about that.

- Yeah.
- What's this fella doing down?

So, she'll ball the dirt down

I did all the hard stuff.

You're the young guy so,
you got to toss the rocks?

I I like that.

- Jeff, you ready to fire this up?
- Ready, man.

All right, let's go.

Goldzilla, it's a huge
rock washing machine

to catch all the gold hidden in the dirt.

The dirt is loaded into the plant
where jets of water break it down.

In the giant spinning trommel,

the rocks are washed clean
and discarded off the end.

And the smaller material and gold
passed into the sluice where it's caught.

Goldzilla is a monster,

and trommels make excellent
wash plants whatever their size.

And with a little bit of ingenuity,

you could build your
own for just 50 bucks.

I love that.

This is exactly the
background I came from.

Shakers, streams,
excavators, dump trucks.

I love the pan, but this
makes me feel at home.

That loud noise, it's
like a money machine.

Four hours of running later

in Jeff's gold room, only the
smallest and heaviest material is left.

Tiny rocks, black sand and gold.

So, this is his finishing table.

It shakes, and as the
water washes down,

the light particles go down here.

The gold and the heavy stay up here.

You can kind of see
how it's staying in here.

And then they'll go into these trays.

And then down here is his bucket.

So he's not losing anything.

Anything that spills over,
he's still catching in there.

It's going to take a while.

George is living proof that
you don't have to spend big

to get some Alabama gold.

My gold I found over
the course of last year.

Well, that's awesome.

There's gold in Alabama.

- I don't know if you know that.
- I do now.

That's pretty nice, though.

Now, if you've hit a big spot, right,

you pull ten ounces of gold,
then you're gonna quit mining?

No, I'll quit work and
go mining and full-time.

Jeff's run the finer material
through his gold table.

So let's see what we got.

Well, that's it, Jeff.

It looks pretty good to me, man.

- I think you've got half an ounce there.
- Pretty close to it.

- That's a good run.
- Yeah.

Nice, clean gold.

I really appreciate you having us
out, we get to see your operation.

- We feel like it's a special place.
- It is special.

It was great to have Dave here.

We were on about almost four hours.

I wanna think it was
somewhere about half an ounce.

We did a pretty good run.

Jeff's got a great program going here.

He's got a great wash plant,
so he charges them five bucks,

and everybody can come out here and

have a good time, find some gold.

You know, pay a little bit of the
gas bill and a little bit of the food bill.

It's a beautiful spot.

Coming up

I show you how to go
big on a backyard budget.

What the hell we got going
here? This looks like a... a hood.

Yep, that's my old garden tractor there.

This all from a garden tractor?

- And these are the wheels?
- Yep.

You've got to be kidding me.

This crisson gold mine and
mill has been here since 1847.

I'm going back in time to see some
19th century gold engineering in action.

A stamp mill was the
original way to crush ore.

So this would be the first time I see one

that's actually running and functioning.

It is actually the only one of two

that still operates in the United States.

So here's your ore,

and what you'd have to do is pre-split it

because, really, all
the ore is going in here,

so it has to be a certain size.

We can't really use any type of oil or
grease because that makes gold float.

Molasses.

One.

That's a lot of power.

That's gold.

Dahlonega belt still has a lot of gold in it.

That's pretty cool.

To me, that's amazing.

If you're like most Americans,

you probably didn't know there's
gold for the taking here in the south.

But the dahlonega belt is rich in gold,

and I'm showing you where and
how everyday people are getting it.

Dahlonega gold. I love it, man.

Now I'm heading
back to the etowah river

where dredger Greg wants to show us
how to scale up on a back yard budget.

He's got a small trommel going,

so I'm kind of excited to see him.

Greg's turned his
gold hunting to dry land.

And he's got a brand new
operation with son Joey,

and friend Brad Tom,

what we're gonna show
you now is a lot bigger.

You've got bigger
equipment, bigger trommel.

I don't tell everybody to go out
and buy this equipment to start out.

This is a step up.

Greg and Brad use yellow
iron they already own.

But you can rent your own
for as little as 500 bucks a day.

Just make sure you're qualified to use it.

So this is the work in progress.

Hold on now.

What the hell we got going
here? This looks like a... a hood.

Yep, that's my old garden tractor there.

This is off a garden tractor?

- And these are the wheels?
- Yep.

You've got to be kidding me.

Just missing the deck
and the front wheels.

I'm not going to say it's hillbilly,

but I'm going to say it's
country engineering, right?

- Yeah.
- That's pretty awesome, you guys.

I got to ask you, what do
you use for a feeder here?

Well, it's your old school satellite dish.

No way.

So this is an old satellite dish

- that you just made into a feeder?
- -Yeah.

- Wow.
- Something temporary.

That there's some backyard engineering.

It works. It's working
pretty decent for what it is.

Are you ready to fire it up?

- Let's go.
- All right.

Yeah!

That's pretty damn good, you guys.

The trommel's going. I like it.

This is smooth.

Got water.

Just like goldzilla, this trommel
is a huge washing machine

that separates gold
from the rocks and dirt.

Water from the pre wash
helps the pay dirt on its way.

Big rocks are dumped out the end

and the smallest material
drops through a screen

and into a gold catching sluice.

These guys really know what they're
doing. I mean, they're on the gold.

Um, they're starting to get
big chunks of rounded quartz.

They've got a makeshift wash plant.

But I feel like they
know where the gold is.

The thing I would do
is move this down and

it gives you a little more sluice
box because you're not even...

You're missing that much. You're
missing six inches of your sluice box.

The more sluice you
got the better off you are.

You see how the water... It was
flowing pretty fast off and shooting down

and it makes like a rooster tail,

and it's blowing this area out?

- Yeah, a piece of... Here, I'll show you.
- Sure.

Is this somebody's shirt that they want?

It's Brad's. You're good.

I'm just gonna give you
an idea of what I'd do.

Okay?

Put a piece of belt,
something that's flexible

and just put it, like, right there.

- See how it calms it?
- Got you.

We're just modifying, we're just
putting a damper on the sluice box.

It's got a little bit of turbulent water.

You put that belt on there and
it'll just knock it down a little bit,

and, it calms the water and gives
the gold a chance to settle out.

Rocking and rolling!

Four hours later, it's time to see if
Greg's country engineered trommel

and my modifications have paid off.

Water's off. Everything's good.

Hey, Brad, let's go ahead and
let's see what the cleanup looks like.

Hold on now, what the hell is that?

- It's gold there, boys.
- Is that gold?

- Wow, nice.
- -Is that gold sitting in that rock?

It's six or seven pieces, like, big pieces.

It is, right?

- That's awesome.
- Wow.

But it's not just sitting on it, right.

- It's part of the rock.
- Yeah.

Yeah, it's in it, for sure.

I think that thing's full of gold, isn't it?

They're right at the source of this gold.

I've seen a lot of nuggets,
but I've never seen gold

sticking to the parent
rocks, and it's pretty special.

This is dahlonega gold belt gold.

They say it's 95 to 98 % pure.

That's amazing.

Hold on, Brad. What is that right there?

It is. It looks like a little picker.

- That's a picker right there.
- That is a picker.

Wow.

That's probably the
biggest piece we've found.

Maybe I'm good luck.

- That's it. I'll take it.
- Maybe.

You're coming back tomorrow, right?

By calming down the water,

it has maximized his sluice

and increased the
chance of catching gold.

There was a lot of gold
coming out of the dahlonega belt

and there's still gold left for the future.

Hopefully, the miners I've met
along the way have inspired you

like they have me.

Let's go, dad!

This region has flown under the radar,

but gold and southern
hospitality is alive and well.

You guys got a good thing going.

And if you decide to come
try your luck here, who knows?

There could be a pot
of gold waiting for you

at the end of the dahlonega rainbow.

Since I last saw them,

Tim and bail lie have
been hot spotting the river.

Well, we've taken a lot of your tips.

As you can see, the test
panning has proved successful.

We'll definitely be coming
back with the dredge.

Jeff and Aaron have powered up.

Well, we've got the
pump Dave suggested.

And now we've got
the perfect water flow.

And we've been digging in
a spot Dave recommended.

And now we're on the
gold. So, thanks, Dave.

And Greg and Joey
have upped their ounces.

We've gone ahead and
implemented the changes

that you recommended on the trommel.

This is our total for the season.

- That's almost $16,000.
- Good job, guys.

Now it's on to another
backyard on the hunt for big gold.